Wine Recommendation

Gray Ghost Vineyards

2006 Adieu - Late Harvest Vidal
(Virginia)

Vidal, a French-American hybrid grape variety, is famous in the wine world for its brilliant, tropical, dazzlingly rich and razor sharp incarnation in Canada as Icewine. Inniskillin’s version from the Niagara Peninsula is the gold standard. On its own, harvested at the normal time and made into a dry wine, Vidal has a low profile. Left to hang for another several weeks, however, its potential wow factor jumps up dramatically. As a late harvest wine, this hybrid of Ugni Blanc and one of the Siebel parents of Seyval Blanc unleashes the full force of its personality.

Brilliant golden yellow with orange/amber highlights, this highly perfumed nectar has notes of honey, ginger tea, crème caramel, buttercream frosting, marzipan, and butterscotch pudding. On the palate it is full-bodied and elegant, with a soft prickle of acids giving the sensation of biting into a succulently sweet, fully ripe organically grown peach within hours of its harvest. A soft chewiness compliments the acids to lift and give balance. The finish is medium-long with a hint of pineapple. This would be delicious with peach and banana bread pudding, or a dried apricot, peach, and pecan tart.

The Wine

The Reviewer

Catherine Fallis

Founder and President of Planet Grape LLC, a company committed to bringing the joy of wine, food, and good living into the lives of everyday people, Catherine is creator of the “grape goddess guides to good living,” a series of books, television presentations, seminars, and e-learning programs. The fifth woman in the world to become a Master Sommelier, grape goddess Catherine Fallis is still very much down-to-earth.

The Wine

The Reviewer

Catherine Fallis

Founder and President of Planet Grape LLC, a company committed to bringing the joy of wine, food, and good living into the lives of everyday people, Catherine is creator of the “grape goddess guides to good living,” a series of books, television presentations, seminars, and e-learning programs. The fifth woman in the world to become a Master Sommelier, grape goddess Catherine Fallis is still very much down-to-earth.